


Any Kind of Tomorrow is Good

by galaxyeyedrops



Category: Cardfight!! Vanguard
Genre: F/M, slight hints of misakourin too
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-07-31
Updated: 2014-07-31
Packaged: 2018-02-11 05:44:21
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,867
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2055954
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/galaxyeyedrops/pseuds/galaxyeyedrops
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>How do you kill the unkillable? How do you destroy a force, something without a physical form? </p>
<p>You give it one. You make it human.</p>
<p>Pre-Legion Mate. Post Neon Messiah and Link Joker.<br/>(Written before Neon Messiah was confirmed to be after Legion Mate)</p>
            </blockquote>





	Any Kind of Tomorrow is Good

**Author's Note:**

  * Inspired by [All the King's Men](https://archiveofourown.org/works/1866147) by [nigiyakapepper](https://archiveofourown.org/users/nigiyakapepper/pseuds/nigiyakapepper). 



> Here's the usual warning that I still haven't edited any of this. Here's the usual promise that I'll get around to doing that.

In the end, Ibuki was just another one of Void's pawns. Another person who had their mind poisoned by Void’s will, seduced by the power it promised, until all that remained was a machine of destruction, a twisted shadow of the person they used to be.

It makes Aichi sick.

When he defeated the other Takuto ( _the abomination who dared to use his friend’s face, that almost crushed everything Takuto had worked hard and suffered for. That Takuto had **died** for_ ), he thought that it was the end of Void. No more Reverse, no more Link Joker. Both Earth and Cray would be safe from it’s threat forever.

As the incident with Ibuki had proven, he was completely wrong.

He could keep pushing Void back, defeating it at every turn, but the truth was, unless if he could find away to defeat it forever, it would always come back.

Given how close all these incidents were together (it hadn’t even been a year since the Asia Cup), unless if Aichi had a definite solution, or the beginnings of one, there would be another disaster lying in wait.

He couldn’t allow that to happen. He remained ignorant for most of the Reverse incident, not being there when Kai needed him, oblivious to Kourin’s strange behavior, and spent hours moping around when he finally did find out. To the point that he dumped un-reversing all of Miyaji Academy on Naoki and Shingo (what kind of Cardfight Club President was that?). He owed it to his friends, who stood by him this whole time, who supported him and believed in him when he couldn’t, to fix this.

His psyqualia had gotten far stronger since Takuto’s death, where Ren, Chris, and Leon’s hadn’t. While Aichi’s not on Misaki’s level, he isn’t stupid. He knows what this means. He knows what Takuto entrusted him with. He knows what he needs and what he can do.

With determination burning in his eyes, Aichi set off to Card Shop PSY.

****  
  
  


The hug that Kourin gives him is unexpected, but still nice. She holds onto him as if he’s a lifeline, that if she lets go, he’ll disappear along with her. Aichi relaxes into the embrace, slowly breathing in and out as her hair brushes his chin, both giving and drawing support. He contemplates staying like this for a while, but then Suiko coughs, reminding them of the other two people in the room, and they break apart with identical blushes.

“So,” Suiko says, as Rekka wiggles her eyebrows suggestively. “You wanted to ask us something?” Despite her words, there’s a faint trace of amusement in her voice (which Aichi decides to ignore for his own wellbeing).

“What can you tell me about sealing things away?” His voice comes out hurried, almost slurring his words together.

Suiko looks at him for a few seconds, nodding to herself in understanding before answering.

“You can’t seal away something without a physical form. Takuto was an exception, since his body was being controlled at that time, and even then the seal wasn’t particularly strong.”

“What if it had a body? All of its fragments in one host?”

Kourin’s eyes sharpen at these words, but Suiko holds up her hand in the universal gesture of “not now”.

“It's possible but the person would have to have a strong will and good control of psyqualia to attract Void to them and keep it suppressed until they are sealed."

She pauses and Aichi nods.

"I wouldn't ask anyone else to do this to begin with," he affirms.

"The seal itself would be hard to construct," Suiko says, leading them all to the backroom. She rummages around for a bit before pulling a misshapen manilla folder out of a drawer.

Aichi's name is written on the front and Suiko smooths it out a bit before handing it to him.

He pours out the contents, a collection of cut gemstones and precious metals, onto a table Suiko directs him to. They range from tiny to large, are probably worth more than his house, and give off a feeling similar to the crystals in his pair of vanguard fighter gloves, only far far stronger.

"For it to remain stable, despite outside interference, you'll need something powerful to maintain it."

There's a large piece of paper left. Carefully, Aichi pulls it out of the folder and unfolds it once, a second time, then third.

It's a world map, large enough to cover the whole table, with certain areas circled, lines running between them and GPS coordinates written next to them.

"Ley Lines," Aichi says, realizing what they are. His voice is soft, breathless in its awe but it carries across the room.

Rekka beams at him.

"Oh," she says. "You caught on pretty fast! Here I thought I'd have to explain the whole thing to you~"

Aichi blushes, murmuring something about fantasy novels, his gaze trained on the floor near his feet.

There's a pause, a moment where they’re unsure whether to break out in forced laughter or start sending out condolence letters. It stretches into a minute almost two, before Aichi turns to leave.

“Thank you”, he says, sincerity shining through on every word. “For everything.”

“Wait.”

“Kourin-san?”

“I’m coming with you.”

It takes a Aichi a second to process this, not because it’s strange (Kourin has always treasured her friends over everything else), but by how quickly she decides to join him. If she stays, she’d still keep her memories, she’d be able to enjoy her free time with the cardfight club, she’d be able to spend more time with Misaki. With him, all she’d be able to do is watch him waste away.

“Are you-”

“I’m coming with you.” Kourin’s face is grim, unwavering.

****  
  
  


The next day, Aichi skips school. He meets up with Kourin outside her penthouse, the map and gems inside his schoolbag and two cups of coffee from the cafe down the street in his hands. Kourin, herself, is going incognito. There’s a pair sunglasses perched on her nose, obscuring her eyes completely. And along with her idol persona, she’s ditched her trademark hairstyle, rolling it up in a bun instead. They head to the library, where Kourin’s already reserved a room, fortify themselves with books, and try to iron out the finer details of their plan.

They could have done this at any one of their houses, Aichi knows, but there’s something about the idea of _secret library meetings_ that has them all over it. Neither one of them actually had one before (and in Aichi’s case, never will again), so they take the opportunity when it’s offered.

Halfway through deciding whether the blue gem would look better set in a ring or a brooch, Ren and Leon show up. Ren’s appeared to have taken lesson from Kourin in inconspicuousness, except somehow, in his own Ren-like way, managed to take them out, recolor, and turn them completely upside down. Leon is Leon.

They sit down on the floor (the chairs were lost long ago amid the piles of books) and it’s Ren that addresses them first.

“Aichi-kun,” he says, red eyes peering down a pair of hot pink heart-shaped shades. “What did you call us over for? Tetsu won’t be happy about me ditching class.”

“I’d like to ask for your help.”

Aichi tries to explain it as best as he can, purposely leaving out a few parts, but from what he can tell, Ren and Leon catch on quickly enough.

“What about Kai and Misa-Q?” Ren asks. “Are they a part of this too?”

Leon doesn’t say anything but his eyes bore into Aichi’s, pressuring him all the same.

“I don’t want them involved,” Aichi says.

(I’m afraid they’ll stop me is what he doesn’t.)

Ren and Leon exchange a glance, then shake their heads in unison.

“I won’t tell anyone,” Leon promises before he leaves, his eyes downcast. And then it’s just Aichi and Kourin in the room again.

“Raul Serra,” he hears her call out from across the room. “He sounds promising.”

Aichi writes the name down on the **Possible** list, making sure to cross out Ren and Leon.

****  
  


Recruitment takes an upturn after that. In addition to Serra, they manage to pick up two European Circuit champions- Olivier Gaillard and Philip Neve.  Their latest candidate is a young Indian girl named Rati Curti.

She's an orphan. Her mother died when she was a baby and her father's heart gave out a few months ago, right before the Reverse incidents started.

She has no real home, no family or friends, and nowhere left to go. Which is how she ends up near the top of their recruitment list.

It bothers Aichi a bit, taking advantage of a person who’s even younger than Emi, using the fact that she feels that she owes him to further his own goals (which he knows will only isolate her even more).

But then again, there's always been a cruel side to Aichi. One that will grab ahold of whatever power he can, will seize victory any way he can.

And if anything, Rati Curti is certainly powerful. She doesn't look it, with her carefree demeanor and low win percentage, but those are just illusions at best.

The doughnuts, though, are not. She stuffs them in her mouth, not pausing for breath, to point that they warp her words, far beyond what her language skills can salvage.

Aichi would be lying if he said he wasn't impressed by the amount she manages to put away.

"Shoo owr yuah gunnar ear?"

Aichi waits patiently. Rati finishes this box and repeats her question.

"How are you going to eat? You said nothing could get through the seal. "

" I won't." Aichi says plainly. "I'll use up Void's energy to so sustain myself till it's all gone. After that... after that..."

Aichi takes a deep breath, willing his voice to remain casual.

"After that, I'll die. Void will die with me and the worlds will be safe."

There's a flicker of _something_ in Rati's eyes, an emotion he doesn't know her well enough to identify.

Nevertheless, she agrees. And with that, the Quatre Knights are formed.

****  
  


"You don't have to do this." Aichi tells Kourin as she shuffles through her new Link Joker deck.

Her bonds with the Royal Paladins mean everything to her. Aichi remembers how mad she had been when he tossed away his Royal Paladins to gain greater power.

For her to do something so similar, well, Aichi never thought it'd ever happen.

"I told you, didn't I?" Kourin says. "I'm staying with you to the end."

"Are you ready?" She asks, her voice a little bit softer.

There's a part of Aichi that screams at him to live, cries that _he doesn't want to die he doesn't want to die hedoesn'twanttodie_.

Aichi keeps it suppressed, reminding himself that he was ready to die for the world before, that he's erased all memories of himself so he doesn't have anywhere to go back to.

He walks to the edge of the room, stares at the earth as the seal crackles to life around him.

"Lock," he whispers, collapsing into his throne.


End file.
